Hongbit

Pack it up this one is over

This one is going to end ugly. Even Beasley can’t hit a wide open shot

One of the oddest shows that I’ve ever seen. First two episodes were spectacular. The last two, well I still don’t know what they were doing and why they were doing it. I will say the very end was powerful. I think most of the critical buzz came from the uniqueness that every episode is a single shot much like the movie Birdman.

Firing Powell would be a great move if Trump is planning his next dump and pump market fixing scheme. That will definitely get the dump moving.

Think of Black Mirror as a modern day Twilight Zone. Most have a theme surrounding some type of technology and a unique twist at the end. They can all be watched completely independent of one another. My favorite episodes: White Bear USS Callister White Christmas Hated in the Nation San Junipero Common People, Plaything, and Hotel Reverie are all really good from this season. I’m still waiting to watch the final episode which is some type of Callister sequel.

The instinct for the catcher would be to continue in the same direction as the ball instead of reversing course in the opposite direction. I can’t imagine it’s too hard for the 2nd base up to look in and tell when the catcher is bringing a low ball up or outside ball in on purpose.

I know we’ve discussed it before and some people view it as gamesmanship but catcher framing is done solely to deceive the ump. Eliminating it would be much easier to implement and have a big impact on improving an umpires ability to call a proper game.

Do they have an April In The Lou song?

Question: What is the strike zone in a Major League Baseball game? If you said the plate horizontally and shoulders to kneecaps vertically, you are wrong. Answer: Whatever the home plate umpire in that game decides it to be. MLB has created a world where there is little consistency in the rules for each game. Every ump has complete control of what they want to call. If a manager or player disagrees, they are immediately ejected from the game. If they say anything to the media after the game, they are fined. MLB has allowed the stance to exist that as long as the calls are consistent for each team, the strike zone shouldn’t matter. That’s ridiculous if you really think about it. How about they have defined rules and they should do their best to follow them. The strike zone is a pretty important part of the game. Making the situation even worse and what allows it to continue is the lack of accountability on the umps. Their union backs them on everything and while they do keep track of accuracy, very little is done to fire or remove umps that do a poor job. Some of the worst offenders are not only allowed to stay on but even get post season assignments due to tenure (I’m looking at you Laz Diaz). I was glad to see the robo ump experiment in spring training. It worked much quicker than most people expected and was a big success. Yet in typical MLB fashion, they didn’t implement this season for fear of upsetting that big, bad umpires union. Typical Rob Manfred leadership.

Historically Detroit has a 0.0% chance at the #2 pick

Not sure if it really matters anymore. If we found Alien life, they would spend a day in Area 51 and then get immediately sent to CECOT.

This such a no brainer next hire. Vivek is his own President of Basketball Ops & GM. He outsources all basketball decisions to a team of Ivy League Quants and offshore Indian AI experts. He fires everyone else in the front office.

Having trouble deciding if it’s Knicks sweep or if we can get one. They are further along in the rebuild process than the Pistons. We have the best player but they have the better overall roster. The biggest issue is see is that the Pistons physicality is going to be a huge deterrent in this series. We have the physical advantage but they will have the ref bias advantage. I fully expect many egregious fouls called in favor of the Knicks. Any physical advantage that Beef Stew may have over KAT will quickly be exterminated by ticky-tack whistles. I can also see potential ejections and quick technicals against the Pistons, who haven’t done a great job keeping their cool with refs in these situations.

I think it’s a stupid award especially since most quality coaching gets done in the playoffs.

In this new NBA front office world, the Bulls are fools if they don’t fire Billy Donavan.

I ran the numbers on AI and got the same. Pretty even at a 60%post and 40%3. 45% or higher the 3 pointer is the better percentage but you do have to account for a potential and 1 and the pass being misplayed in the post.

Down 14 to start the 4th gives the Bulls a chance.

The numbers say it’s definitely easier to score a two in the paint than a wide open three. I wonder how the math translates regarding points since the uncontested 3 is worth more.

Bulls showing signs of life on defense but still turn it over and giving up too many offensive boards.

I wonder what the percentages look like for a quality shooter when they take a completely uncontested three from a favorable angle.

I thought the plan for the NCAA was to walk away and let chaos prevail so everyone realized how much they’re needed. I’m still waiting for part where they come back to the table to save the day with a plan to govern paid college sports. I’m ready for it.

I still don’t understand the philosophy of consistently doubling to contest a two pointer to give up a wide open three. Even more now I the playoffs when the refs will swallow a whistle in the paint.

I’m not sure you’ll ever see a team play worse defense in a big game than what the Bulls are doing now. Embarrassingly bad.

It doesn’t matter who you are, at some point bankruptcies will damage your credit rating to the point that nobody will loan you money anymore. The only place that’s left to go to finance deals is either organized crime or a foreign government that may have a vested interest in quid pro quo.

If true, the story that he (or his agents) asked for more money before the playoff seems to be turning off most of the top teams. It’s a brutal ask from a football coach standpoint but maybe not from a professional athlete. SEC championship game and potential playoff run could be 4 extra games that he’s not getting compensated.